Traumatised by violence
"I see several women every day. Many of them are employed, and earning fairly well. But I have yet to encounter someone who can confidently state 'Yes, I am happy, I am content.' The peace has gone from our hearts," says Dr Zahida Shah, director of a health care and fitness centre for women in Srinagar. Sociologists like Dr Bashir A Dabla have pointed out how militarisation and prolonged conflict in the Kashmir Valley has had an effect on every aspect of life in this region - social, cultural, psychological, economic and educational. Women have been particularly vulnerable to these effects, and this has impacted on their health and well being in many direct and indirect ways.
Deaths and enforced disappearances of male members from the 1990s, either because of the militancy or operations by security forces, have left many women heading and providing for families single-handedly. The precarious position of "half widows" or women, unsure of the fate of their husbands, is particularly poignant. They cannot inherit property or claim widow benefits, and according to Islamic law must wait for at least seven years before they can marry again. The majority of them have chosen not to remarry. Apart from issues of livelihood they must live with the haunting trauma of wondering what happened to their loved ones. Parveena Ahangar, who heads the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons, and whose 16-year-old son disappeared after he was rounded up by security forces, recounts the aching loneliness of Magli, a woman who was divorced and whose son was forcibly disappeared. "In the last few years before her death Magli was reduced to talking to her hookah as she grappled with painful memories," says Ahangar.
Mental distress
Undoubtedly the most distressing repercussions of the conflict and high levels of exposure to violence for women are with regard to mental health. The international medical aid group Medicins Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders) published a report, titled Conflict and Health, based on a study in villages of Kupwara and Budgam districts in 2005 to assess confrontation with violence and its consequences on mental health and socio-economic functioning. Over one-third of the respondents in this study were found to have symptoms of psychological distress expressed through symptoms like nervousness, tiredness, being easily frightened and complaints of headaches. Women scored significantly higher.
There was also a high prevalence of suicidal ideation with one third of respondents saying they had contemplated ending their lives. (The rate of suicide, according to MSF for both males and females is twice the rest of India's average). The study also says that for women most of the psychological distress was associated with feelings of powerlessness, dependency on others for daily living and witnessing killing and torture. Women had lower confrontation with violence being confined to the homes but, the study notes, feelings of helplessness and guilt caused by witnessing violence was often more traumatic than experiencing it... Read more:
http://www.indiatogether.org/2011/may/hlt-kashmir.htm
Deaths and enforced disappearances of male members from the 1990s, either because of the militancy or operations by security forces, have left many women heading and providing for families single-handedly. The precarious position of "half widows" or women, unsure of the fate of their husbands, is particularly poignant. They cannot inherit property or claim widow benefits, and according to Islamic law must wait for at least seven years before they can marry again. The majority of them have chosen not to remarry. Apart from issues of livelihood they must live with the haunting trauma of wondering what happened to their loved ones. Parveena Ahangar, who heads the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons, and whose 16-year-old son disappeared after he was rounded up by security forces, recounts the aching loneliness of Magli, a woman who was divorced and whose son was forcibly disappeared. "In the last few years before her death Magli was reduced to talking to her hookah as she grappled with painful memories," says Ahangar.
Mental distress
Undoubtedly the most distressing repercussions of the conflict and high levels of exposure to violence for women are with regard to mental health. The international medical aid group Medicins Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders) published a report, titled Conflict and Health, based on a study in villages of Kupwara and Budgam districts in 2005 to assess confrontation with violence and its consequences on mental health and socio-economic functioning. Over one-third of the respondents in this study were found to have symptoms of psychological distress expressed through symptoms like nervousness, tiredness, being easily frightened and complaints of headaches. Women scored significantly higher.
There was also a high prevalence of suicidal ideation with one third of respondents saying they had contemplated ending their lives. (The rate of suicide, according to MSF for both males and females is twice the rest of India's average). The study also says that for women most of the psychological distress was associated with feelings of powerlessness, dependency on others for daily living and witnessing killing and torture. Women had lower confrontation with violence being confined to the homes but, the study notes, feelings of helplessness and guilt caused by witnessing violence was often more traumatic than experiencing it... Read more:
http://www.indiatogether.org/2011/may/hlt-kashmir.htm
